Extreme Legislation Would Rig the Rules, Harm Americans

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Coalition for Sensible Safeguards is urging the U.S. Senate to reject the Regulatory Accountability Act (RAA) of 2017, which would rig the rules so that corporate profits trump health, safety, economic security, the environment and more. The RAA would let corporations police themselves, remove the mechanisms for holding them accountable and shut down enforcement of our laws.

Below are quotes from the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards leadership:

“Senate Republicans’ patently false and dangerous deregulatory proposals put corporate special interests before the public. Even worse, the extremist RAA would impose a permanent blockage on government agencies charged with protecting the American public from predatory corporations. We need members of Congress standing up to Wall Street and big business by standing up for American workers and consumers, not making it easier for Trump to accomplish Steve Bannon’s fever dream of deconstructing the administrative state.”

Robert Weissman, president, Public Citizen and CSS chair

“Corporate special interests support the RAA precisely because it will make it even more difficult for agencies to hold bad actors accountable for the dangers they impose on workers and consumers, including cancer-causing chemicals, tainted food and lead in drinking water. Like President Trump’s anti-regulatory executive orders, the RAA would require agencies to prioritize corporate profits over the public interest when developing new protections. That flips our bedrock environmental and public health laws on their heads and leaves us all at risk.”

Sidney Shapiro, vice president, Center for Progressive Reform

“The RAA would handcuff all federal agencies in their efforts to protect Americans. Critically, the RAA would override important bipartisan laws that have been in effect for years, as well as more recently enacted laws to protect consumers from unfair and deceptive financial services, unsafe food and unsafe consumer products.”

“This bill, introduced under the guise of ‘reform,’ would make it next to impossible to protect the public from dirty air and water and other dangers to health and safety. It would skew the entire system so that polluters’ views trump any concern about the public. This measure is the ultimate rollback, rewriting countless laws that have safeguarded the public for decades.”

“Let’s be clear – this bill doesn’t create accountability; it actually removes accountability from regulated industries. It provides companies more opportunities to block public health and safety protections, and sideline both science and the public interest. If passed, it would be almost impossible to make progress toward the goals of critical, science-based public health laws like the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act.”